Section
Practical guidance for the day-to-day work of leading a New Zealand school.
Articles in this section share how-to advice on the operational and relational aspects of principalship: navigating employment law, writing letters of expectation, talking to parents about ERO reports, enacting Te Tiriti o Waitangi in school life, mentoring future leaders, and supporting equity in the classroom. Contributors are working principals, sector specialists, employment lawyers, and education consultants drawing on lived experience in New Zealand schools. Use this section to find tested approaches to common challenges, build your professional toolkit, and learn from the practice of colleagues across the country — from country schools to large urban primaries.
Professional Insight Principals – have you ever posed this question to your staff? Do you accept that invite to an 18th birthday party? Do you answer that late night text from a student who says they are feeling depressed? These are just some of the issues teachers must navigate throughout their career. Maintaining professional boundaries […]
Editor It is impossible not to be overawed by the Buller. Nature reigns big in these parts. On a 1040-meterhigh bed of rock, sleeps the giant Mount Rochfort, named after John Rochfort (1832–93) a pioneer survey-engineer who conducted mineral surveys of the Buller District. R ochfort broodily oversees the town of Westport and shares a […]
Kiwitahi School, New Zealand Kiwitahi is a rural primary school in Waikato, New Zealand. The school is in the dairy farming heartland of the North Island, with the majority of pupils coming from farming families. There are 41 children currently on roll, with numbers forecast to grow later this year. The school is state funded, […]
Editor Camera in one hand, laptop in the other, I stride to the front gate of Frimley School. Two youngsters on scooters are headed for the same gate. ‘Morena whaea!’ they smile in unison. They stand back. ‘Kia ora e ngā tāmariki,’ I reply, immediately warming to my new friends. We introduce ourselves, chat a […]
This year my Y10 Deans and I have spent more time than ever on student attendance – yet it feels like the harder we work the bigger the problem grows! Every week we print out a list of Y10 students whose attendance is at or below 85 per cent. 2 years ago the list fitted […]
Principal: Edendale Primary School (Southland) People are the power of a school. Who they are. What they do and equally what they know not to do. It is people that make a school. Every single person is important and has a part to play. Education is full of wonderful, others-focused people, who are willing to […]
When COVID strikes your school: communication and management strategies Reprinted with permission of ‘The Writing Room’ www.thewritingroom.nz, jenny@thewritingroom.nz Vaughan Couillault, Principal of Papatoetoe High School, shares his experience of navigating an outbreak of COVID that directly impacts a school and community. Papatoetoe High School, a co-educational year 9–13 school in South Auckland, was thrust into […]
Action Plan for Pacific Education 2020-2030 Filivaifale Jason Swann Principal – Otahuhu Primary School; President – New Zealand Pasifika Principals Association photographer Kim Gee O le ala i le pule o le tautua – the road to leadership is through service. Samoan proverb. Principalship and leadership in general, can be reflected in the Samoan proverb […]
